Tamper-resistant transaction card and method of providing a tamper-resistant transaction card

ABSTRACT

A dynamic transaction card that is manufactured using conductive plastic jumpers that will dissolve when in contact with a solvent used to tamper with the dynamic transaction card. Internal components of a dynamic transaction card may be manufactured using a synthetic or semi-synthetic organic material, such as, for example, plastics. These materials may be conductive to provide functionality to a dynamic transaction card, such as a connection between an integrated circuit and other card components such that when the materials dissolve, the connections are broken and the dynamic transaction card may be inactive due to the loss of various connections.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The subject application is a Continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/098,903 filed Apr. 14, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,710,744,which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/270,449filed Dec. 21, 2015 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/147,568filed Apr. 14, 2015, the contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference in their entireties.

This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 15/098,935,entitled “Dynamic transaction card Power Management” filed Apr. 14,2016, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/266,324, filed Dec. 11, 2015, U.S. Provisional Application No.62/270,307 filed Dec. 21, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Application No.62/305,599, filed Mar. 9, 2016. The entire contents of theseapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to a dynamic transaction card that ismanufactured using conductive plastic jumpers that will dissolve when incontact with a solvent used to tamper with the dynamic transaction card.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Smart cards may store confidential information and may includeproprietary information and/or engineering know how. Protecting anindividual and/or company from having this information and know howleaked is of the utmost importance when a smart card is associated witha financial institution. Currently, there is little to no protection forthis information.

These and other drawbacks exist.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a dynamictransaction card that is manufactured using conductive plastic jumpersthat will dissolve when in contact with a solvent used to tamper withthe dynamic transaction card. A dynamic transaction card may include anembedded microprocessor chip, or integrated circuit (IC), having variouscomponents to provide card capabilities, such as transactioncapabilities, security capabilities, and reprogramming capabilities.These components may be understood to refer to computer executablesoftware, firmware, hardware, and/or various combinations thereof. Adynamic transaction card may include a number of layers including atransparent overlay and backing that encapsulate a number of components,both hardware and software, such as, for example, potting, Java Applets,Java Applet integration, a EuroPay-MasterCard-Visa (“EMV”) chip, asensor, a display, display driver, firmware, a bootloader, amicrocontroller an antenna, an energy storage component, powermanagement, a flexible PCB, and a chassis.

Internal components of a dynamic transaction card may be manufacturedusing a synthetic or semi-synthetic organic material, such as, forexample, polyethylene terephthalate polyethylene, high-densitypolyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, low-densitypolyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, high impact polystyrene,polyamides, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyethylene/acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene polycarbonate, and/or polycarbonate/acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene. These materials may be conductive to providefunctionality to a dynamic transaction card, such as a connectionbetween an integrated circuit and other card components such that whenthe materials dissolve, the connections are broken and the dynamictransaction card may be inactive due to the loss of various connections.

A dynamic transaction card that includes these conductive, plasticjumpers connecting, for example, an integrated circuit to a powersupply, may be manufactured using reaction injection molding (RIM). Inthis manner, thermosetting polymers (e.g., plastics) are curedirreversibly. As used herein, irreversible curing means that oncehardened, the resin cannot be reheated, melted; and reshaped. Using aRIM process, the various polymer components used to form the conductive,plastic jumpers in a dynamic transaction card may be combined andinjected into a molding. Reinforcing agents may be added to the mixture,such as various fibers or mica. The materials mixed in the molding maythen be cured while remaining in the molding.

Once cured, the molded jumpers may then be incorporated into a dynamictransaction card as connectors between, for example, an integratedcircuit and logic, and a power supply or power management. Should thecard be tampered with using, for example, a solvent to dissolve theplastic outer layers of the dynamic transaction card, the jumpers willalso dissolve thereby preventing reverse engineering of or tamperingwith the dynamic transaction card.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure, together with furtherobjects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in the several Figures of which like reference numeralsidentify like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example embodiment of a dynamic transaction cardaccording to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts an example embodiment of a dynamic transaction cardaccording to embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 3 depicts an example method for using plastic jumpers that willdissolve when in contact with a solvent used to tamper with the dynamictransaction card according to embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following description is intended to convey a thorough understandingof the embodiments described by providing a number of specific exampleembodiments and details involving a dynamic transaction card that ismanufactured using conductive plastic jumpers that will dissolve when incontact with a solvent used to tamper with the dynamic transaction card.It should be appreciated, however, that the present disclosure is notlimited to these specific embodiments and details, which are examplesonly. It is further understood that one possessing ordinary skill in theart, in light of known systems and methods, would appreciate the use ofthe invention for its intended purposes and benefits in any number ofalternative embodiments, depending on specific design and other needs. Afinancial institution and system supporting a financial institution areused as examples for the disclosure. The disclosure is not intended tobe limited to financial institutions only. For example, many otheraccount providers or smart card providers may exist, such as retailstores, transportation providers (e.g., a fare card), a housingprovider, and the like.

Additionally, a dynamic transaction card is used as an example of a cardwith an embedded microprocessor chip. A dynamic transaction card mayinclude any type of card with common or programmable logic or anembedded microprocessor chip including, for example, cards used intransportation systems, hotel systems, and the like.

FIG. 1 depicts an example dynamic transaction card 100. For example,dynamic transaction card may include a dynamic transaction card asdescribed in U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/147,568, the entirecontents of which are incorporated by reference herein. As shown in FIG.1, dynamic transaction card 100 may include a top output layer 102. Thetop output layer may be a film covering, a plastic covering, and/or thelike. The top output layer 102 may be constructed of scratch-resistantand/or scratch-proof materials. Materials that may be used as a topouter layer 102 may include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polylactic acid(PLA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethlene terephthalate(PET), Polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PET-G), Mylar,composites including carbon, Kevlar, ceramic, fiberglass, wood, metal,ornamental thin material, and/or the like. A dynamic transaction card100 may further include a top protective layer 104, such as a clearscratch-resistant coating and/or scratch-proof material to protect theunderlying components. For example, various scratch-resistant materialsinclude materials coated with a scratch resistant chemical coating, suchas a UV curable chemical coating. Scratch-proof materials may include amineral glass, a sapphire glass material, PVC, PET, and/or PET-G.

A dynamic transaction card 100 may include a potting 106 or filler epoxyaround the electrical components to provide strength and/or waterresistance. A potting 106 may include a light guide, which may beconstructed of optical grade materials such as acrylic, resin,polycarbonate, epoxies, and/or glass. Potting 106 may also includeinjection molding, such as over molding and/or multi-shot to encapsulatethe internal components of card 100. For example, injection molding mayinclude ABS, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), thermoplastic vulcanizate(TPV), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), PET, polycarbonates (PC),and/or silicone. A dynamic transaction card 100 may further include aJava Applet 108 and Java Applet integration 110. Although a Java Applet108 is used through the specification, any other similar type of codeapplication may be used. Moreover, although Java Applet integration 110is used throughout this specification, any type of interface may be usedto allow the microcontroller to interact with the EMV chip. A JavaApplet 108 may include code that executes payments, such as payment madeusing an EMV chip. A Java Applet 108 may include account-providerspecific code to execute display functionality specific to the accountprovider. Java Applet integration 110 may include coded interfaces toallow the microcontroller to interact with the EMV chip 112.

An EMV chip 112 may include a number of contacts that may interact witha terminal configured to read an EMV chip 112. During an EMVtransaction, application cryptograms may be used to send and receivedata packets between a dynamic transaction card 100 and a terminal, suchas a merchant terminal. For example, data packets may include userauthentication information which an acquisition system and/or issuingfinancial institution may use to authenticate a dynamic transaction card100 during a transaction. Various cryptographic protocols and/or methodsmay be used in this data transmission and reception process. Moreover,during a transaction issuing financial institutions and/or acquisitionsystems may return script commands to the EMV chip 112 via a terminal.These script commands and/or data packets may be transmitted betweenparties over a network. Script commands may be used, for example, toblock transactions, change transaction data stored on the EMV chip(e.g., transaction history, account limits, account balance, and/or thelike). Offline data authentication may also take place using, forexample public key cryptography to perform payment data authentication.For example, offline data authentication may use Static DataAuthentication (SDA), Dynamic Data Authentication (DDA), and/or CombinedData Authentication (CDA).

Dynamic transaction card 100 may also include one or more sensors 114 toreceive input. Sensors 114 may include an activation sensor and/or anoperation sensor, which may be combined and/or separate. An activationsensor may activate a dynamic transaction card 114 and an operationsensor may instruct a dynamic transaction card 200 to perform an actionbased on the received input. An activation sensor may require a securityinput, such as a biometric input (e.g., fingerprint, eye scan, voicerecognition, and/or the like), input indicative of a paired mobiledevice (e.g., BLE and/or Bluetooth pairing), input indicative of apassword (e.g., a password received via a sensor on a dynamictransaction card and/or a password received on a paired mobile device),and/or the like. An operation sensor may change a display 116 based onreceived input, conduct a transaction via, for example an EMV chip 112and/or contactless payment technologies based on received input, attempta pairing of a card 100 and a mobile device, and/or the like.

By way of example, a sensor 114 may include a capacitive touch sensor, apiezoelectric sensor, load cells, a light sensor, a temperature sensor,a resistive touchscreen, including for example an analogue matrix real(AMR) sensors, and/or the like. Sensors 114 may include accelerometersto detect motion input.

Although the sensor 114 is depicted at a particular spot in a dynamictransaction card 100, a sensor 114 may be placed at any portion of thecard to detect, for example, touch, light, heat, energy, and/or thelike. For example, a sensor may be placed around the outer edges of adynamic transaction card 100 or at any spot within a dynamic transactioncard 100. Sensor 114 also may include the entire exterior surface ofdynamic transaction card 100.

A display 116 may be provided within a dynamic transaction card 100.Although the display as shown includes, for example, a dot matrixdisplay, a number of other display options may be included in thedynamic transaction card 200. For example, lighting, such as LEDlighting, OLED lighting, and/or the like, may be used as displaycomponents. Display components may also include electronic paper,Mirasol, TF LCD, Quantum Dot Display, and/or the like. Where lighting isused, various lighting technologies may be used to create a display thatindicates a number of things to a cardholder. For example, edge lightingmay be used to create a specific visual component in the display. Anumber of LED or OLED lights may be used to illuminate various portionsof the display in order to output information to a card holder.

By way of example, a display 116 may be illuminated using a particularcolor to relay to the cardholder balance information of an accountassociated with a dynamic transaction card, such as an RGB LED matrixpanel and/or RGB LED displays. A red light display may indicate that theaccount balance is within a first predetermined dollar amount or a firstpredetermined percentage of the total spending limit, a particularbudget, a particular budget category, and/or the like. A yellow lightdisplay may indicate that the account balance is within a secondpredetermined dollar amount or a second predetermined percentage of thetotal spending limit, a particular budget, a particular budget category,and/or the like. A green light display may indicate that the accountbalance is within a third predetermined dollar amount or a thirdpredetermined percentage of the total spending limit, a particularbudget, a particular budget category, and/or the like. Various colorsand or number of categories may be used to output this information to acardholder. A display 116 may include other display component, such as,for example, LCD technology, ePaper technology (e.g., e-ink), vacuumflorescent display technology, electroluminescent (EL) technology,and/or the like.

By way of example, a display may include a number of LED or OLED lightsthat may be lit in a particular pattern to indicate transaction and/oraccount information. For example, a display may include a circle,semicircle, or other shape of LED or OLED lighting, where the numberalights illuminated indicates a dollar amount or a percentage of thetotal spending limit, a particular budget, a particular budget category,and/or the like.

A display may be altered and/or modified, for example, depending onwhich account or card is selected to be used. For example, dynamictransaction card 100 includes a debit account, a first credit account,and a second credit account, display components 116 may reflect the cardnumber, security code, expiration date, and/or other necessary dataindicative of the account (e.g., second credit account) that is beingused to execute a transaction. A display may be altered and/or modifiedwhen, for example, a dynamic transaction card 100 receives new card dataand/or new account data from an account holder's mobile device via awireless connection. For example, where an account has been marked asassociated with fraudulent activity, an account holder and/or issuingfinancial institution may deactivate the card associated with theaccount and issue a new card. Accordingly, new card data may betransmitted from the issuing financial institution to, for example, anaccount holder's mobile device via a network, and then from an accountholder's mobile device to dynamic transaction card 100 via a wirelessconnection. A display may also be altered and/or modified when dynamiccard 100 activates a new account. For example, when an account holderapplies for a new account (e.g., a new credit card account, a newchecking account, and/or the like), if approved, new account data may betransmitted to dynamic transaction card 100. New account data may bereceived at an account holder's mobile device from an issuing financialinstitution via a network (e.g., using a mobile application, mobileoptimized website, and/or the like). New account data may then betransmitted from an account holder's mobile device to dynamictransaction card 100 via a wireless connection (e.g., Bluetooth,optical, audio (e.g., an ultrasonic link), BLE, RFID, NFC, WiFi, and/orthe like) or a contact connection (e.g., using a terminal in contactwith an EMV chip and/or other microchip).

As described herein, dynamic transaction card 100 may be fully orpartially pre-loaded with account and/or card data (e.g., accountname(s), account number(s), account expiration data, languagepreferences, ATM display preferences, mobile application preferences,and/or the like). For example, an apples and placeholder data (or actualdata) may be stored within dynamic transaction card 100. Accordingly,when an account holder wishes to activate a new account (e.g., accountholder who maintains a first credit account may wish to apply for asecond credit account), the new account data and/or activation signalmay be received from an account holder's mobile device via a wirelessconnection or a contact connection (e.g., using a terminal in contactwith an EMV chip and/or other microchip) and a new account and/or cardmay be activated and able to be displayed on dynamic transaction card100.

A dynamic transaction card 100 may include a display driver 118 thattranslates instructions from a microcontroller 124 into display imagesto be displayed using display components 116. A display driver 118 mayinclude an integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and/or the likethat provides an interface function between the display and themicrocontroller 124. A display driver 118 may include memory orprogrammable logic (e.g., RAM, Flash, ROM, and/or the like) and/orfirmware that includes font display data.

A dynamic transaction card 100 may include firmware 120 and/or abootloader 122. A bootloader 122 may include code to be executed as adynamic transaction card 100 is activated and before any operatingsystem, firmware, or other code is executed on the dynamic transactioncard 100. A bootloader may include hardware and/or software that whenexecuted initiates a security jumper interrogation that may disable thedynamic transaction card 100 if connections are not recognized. Asecurity jumper interrogation may delete or alter FLASH or other memoryand/or critical NVRAM locations thereby rendering a microprocessorunusable.

A bootloader may be activated via a sensor 114 and energy storagecomponent 128 of a dynamic transaction card 100. Bootloader 122 may beactivated and/or load an application and/or program upon detection thatcard 100 has been inserted into a terminal, charger, and/or the like.Bootloader 122 may be activated using only one technique describedherein, using multiple techniques described herein, and/or using a cardholder or card provider selected technique(s) described herein.Bootloader 122 may only be active during a short interval after the card100 powers up. Card 100 may also be activated using program code thatmay be flashed directly to a microprocessor such as microcontroller 124,EMV chip 112, and/or the like. Card 100 may not use a bootloader 122 butinstead may cycle between a sleep state and an active state usingprogram code and/or memory. A dynamic transaction card 200 may include amicrocontroller 124 and an antenna 126. Antenna 126 may include, forexample, a loop antenna, a fractal antenna, and/or the like. Antenna 126may transmit to and receive signals from a mobile device to conducttransactions and display data as described throughout the specification.Microcontroller 124 may communicate with EMV chip 112, Java Applet 108,Java Applet integration 110, sensor(s) 114, power management 130,antenna 126, energy storage component 128, display 116, display driver118, firmware 120, bootloader 122, and/or any other component of dynamictransaction card 100. Microcontroller 124 may control the cardoperations to conduct transactions and/or display data as describedherein. Microcontroller 124 may be connected to an EMV chip and/orprocessor via plastic jumper connections as described herein.

Dynamic transaction card 100 may include an energy storage component128. Although energy storage component is depicted as a singlecomponent, energy storage component 128 may include a series of energystorage components. By way of example, energy storage component 128 mayinclude a lithium polymer battery, a lithium-metal battery,lithium-ceramic battery, and/or any other type of battery. Energystorage component 128 may be constructed out of rigid materials,semiflexible materials, and/or flexible materials. Energy storagecomponent 128 may provide power to card components contained withindynamic transaction card 100. Energy storage component 128 may be acombined, for example, battery/potting component to support dynamictransaction card 100. Energy storage component 128 may be a combinedpower component/PCB component as described in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 62/266,324, the entire contents of which are incorporated byreference herein.

Dynamic transaction card 100 may include a power management component130 that may manage the charging and discharging of storage component128. Power management component 130 may convert voltage to apredetermined level in order to operate dynamic transaction card 100 asdiscussed throughout the specification. Power management component 130and/or energy storage component 128 may include, for example, solarpower cells to convert solar energy into an electrical current within asolar panel. Power management component 130 and/or energy storagecomponent 128 may include connections to sensors 114 to receive inputand activate dynamic transaction card 100 (e.g., motion input, thermalinput, manual input, touch input, and/or the like).

A flexible printed circuit board (PCB) 132 may be included in dynamictransaction card 100. A flexible PCB 132 may include a PCB mounted in aflexible plastic substrate, such as for example, a polyimide, polyetherether ketone, and/or a transparent conductive polyester film. A flexiblePCB 132 may be printed, using, for example screen printing, 3D printing,and/or the like, to arrange circuits on a material, such as polyester.Flexible PCB 132 may include electronic components and connections thatpower dynamic transaction card 100. Flexible PCB 132 may control and/orprovide integration between the components of card 100. For example,flexible PCB 132 mechanically supports and electronically connects theelectronic components of card 100 using, for example, conductive tracks,pads, and/or other features. A flexible printed circuit (FPC) may beused in place of or in conjunction with flexible PCB 132. FPC 132 may befabricated with photolithographic technology, such as light exposure ofa film material laminated to substrate and/or conductive layers. FPC 132may be printed, silkscreened, and/or the like. FPC 132 may be used as astructural member for the electronic components of card 100 and/or forthe card system as a whole 100.

Dynamic transaction card 100 may include a chassis 134 as a frame orsupporting structure. Chassis 134 may be a mount for a flexible PCB 132and may be constructed out of flexible or semi-flexible material aswell. Chassis 134 may be constructed out of a number of materials,including but not limited to, styrene, polycarbonate, polyester and PET.Chassis 134 may be constructed out of a conductive material. Chassis 134may increase the rigidity of dynamic transaction card 100 to preventdamage. Chassis 134 may also be used to detect if dynamic transactioncard 100 is being held by including sensors 114 around chassis 134.Where chassis 134 is constructed out of a conductive material, adielectric constant of chassis 134 and/or card 100 may be monitored todetect handling of card 100. Chassis 134 may be included within orseparate from a card backing 136. Card backing 136 may include amagnetic stripe that may be read using a magnetic stripe reader. Amagnetic strip may store tracks of data that are used to conduct atransaction using a dynamic transaction card 100. The tracks of data mayinclude a first track capable of storing alphanumeric characters as wellas symbols (e.g., ?, !, &, #, and/or the like), such as account numbers,account holder name, expiration data, security data, and/or otheraccount and/or card related data. The tracks of data may include asecond track capable of storing numeric characters such as accountnumbers, expiration data, security data, and/or other account and/orcard related data. The tracks of data may include a third track of datacapable of storing numeric characters such as an account number, a PIN,a country code, a currency code, an authorization amount, a balanceamount, and/or other account and/or card related data.

A magnetic stripe may be dynamically altered. For example, a dynamictransaction card 100 that is paired to a mobile device via, for example,Bluetooth, BLE, RFID, and/or other wireless technologies, may receivenew track data. The new track data may be unformatted, encrypted,encoded, and/or the like when the new track data is transmitted from themobile device to the dynamic transaction card 100. Upon receipt of thenew track data, the new track data may be routed to a microprocessor,such as EMV chip 112 and/or microcontroller 124. EMV chip 112 and/ormicrocontroller 124 may convert, decrypt, and/or decode the received newtrack data to ensure compliance with any standards. Once decrypted,decoded, and/or formatted, the new track data may be save on the tracksof the magnetic stripe. The magnetic stripe may be deleted and then thenew track data may be recorded onto the tracks. In this manner, trackdata stored on a magnetic stripe may be altered at any time, forexample, upon pairing a dynamic transaction card 100 with a mobiledevice.

Card backing 136 may be made of similar material to that of the outputlayer 102 and/or the top protective layer 104. Card backing 136 may bemade out of a plastic or other materials.

Although the components of dynamic transaction card 100 are illustratedin a particular fashion, these components may be combined and or placedthroughout a dynamic transaction card 100 in any manner, such as thosedepicted in, for example, FIG. 2.

For example, FIG. 2 illustrates a dynamic transaction card 200 having anoutput layer 202 which may be similar to output layer 102; an outerprotective layer 204 which may be similar to outer protective layer 104;potting 206 which may be similar to potting 106; Java Applets 208 whichmay be similar to Java Applets 108; Java Applet integration 210 whichmay be similar to Java Applet integration 110; an EMV chip 212 which maybe similar to EMV chip 112; a sensor 214 which may be similar to sensor114; display 216 which may be similar to display 116; display driver 218which may be similar to display driver 118; firmware 220 which may besimilar to firmware 120; bootloader 222 which may be similar tobootloader 122; microcontroller 224 which may be similar tomicrocontroller 124; antenna 226 which may be similar to antenna 126;energy storage component 228 which may be similar to energy storagecomponent 128; power management 230 which may be similar to powermanagement 130; a flexible PCB 232 which may be similar to flexible PCB132; chassis 234 which may be similar to chassis 134; and/or cardbacking 236 which may be similar to card backing 136.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method 300 for manufacturing and securinga tamper-resistant dynamic transaction card, such as dynamic transactioncard 100 or dynamic transaction card 200.

The method may begin at block 302. At block 304, various polymercomponents may be mixed together to form the material that will becomethe dissolvable jumpers used as connectors within a dynamic transactioncard. This material may include a synthetic or semi-synthetic organicmaterial, such as, for example, polyethylene terephthalate,polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride,polyvinylidene chloride, low-density polyethylene, polypropylene,polystyrene, high impact polystyrene, polyamides, acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene, polyethylene/acrylonitrile butadiene styrenepolycarbonate, and/or polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Thedissolvable jumpers may be x-ray transparent.

At block 306, the mixed polymer may be injected into moldings to curethe plastic material and create the jumpers that may be included withina dynamic transaction card. Using a reaction injection moldingtechnique, the jumpers may be irreversibly encapsulated. Reactioninjection molding may include injecting the mixture, under a certainpressure, into the molding where the material is then cured. Othermolding techniques known in the art may be used to create the plasticjumpers as well. The material used to create the jumpers is a conductivematerial to enable a connection between the electrical components of adynamic transaction card.

At block 308, the molded jumpers may be incorporated into the dynamictransaction card. For example, the molding may include a mold for anintegrated circuit where the jumpers connect the integrated circuit to,for example a power supply or power management component of the dynamictransaction card. An integrated circuit may include an EMV chip or otherintegrated circuit within a dynamic transaction card as disclosedherein. The jumpers may also connect a microprocessor or microcontrollerto an EMV chip, a microprocessor or microcontroller to a power supply, amicroprocessor or microcontroller to a power management component,and/or any other components as discussed above with respect to dynamictransaction card 100 or 200. In this manner, various components orportions of components (e.g., the V_(cc) component of an integratedcircuit) may be connected using the created plastic jumpers. The jumpersmay be arranged in a sequence. When a dynamic transaction card is turnedon, the card will look for the sequence. If one or more of the jumpershave been dissolved and the sequence cannot be found, the dynamictransaction card may be deactivated and/or the memory of the card may beerased.

The dynamic transaction card may then be manufactured accordingly sothat the various layers of the card may be molded together. The top andbottom layers, such as the outer protective layer and card backing layerdescribed with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, may be constructed out of aplastic material as well. At block 310, card provider may distribute thetamper-resistant card for use. Once distributed, a card may bevulnerable to theft, loss, or attempted reengineering. Accordingly,manufacturing a dynamic transaction card as described herein provides asecure, tamper-resistant card.

At block 312, a dynamic transaction card may be tampered with, forexample, to obtain the data stored on the card and/or reverse engineerthe dynamic transaction card. In order to tamper with a dynamictransaction card, the outer layers must be dissolved so that theinternal components may be exposed and examined. Dissolving the outerlayers may include, for example, soaking or otherwise moistening thelayers with a solvent. A solvent may include any solvent capable ofdissolving or breaking down a plastic material. For example, a solventmay include acetaldehyde, acetic acid, acetone, amyl acetate, aniline,benzene, bromine, butanol, butyric acid, carbon tetrachloride, chloralhydrate, chlorine, chloroform, chlorosulphonic acid, cyclohexanone,ethyl acetate, ethylene dichloride, ethylene glycol, hydrofluoric acid,methyl ethyl ketone, methyl chloride, naphthalene, ozone, phenol,sulphuric acid, toluene, trichlorethylene, turpentine, and/or xylene.Most commonly solvents such as acetone and/or toluene are used to breakdown or dissolve the outer layer material associated with a dynamictransaction card.

At block 314, the solvent may dissolve all plastic material associatedwith the dynamic transaction card, including the outer layers as well asthe jumpers that have been created. By breaking down and/or dissolvingthe material making up the jumpers, the connections between variouscomponents are broken down. Accordingly, the various components of adynamic transaction card may be deactivated thereby prohibitingtampering and/or reverse engineering of a dynamic transaction card.

The method may end at block 316.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a dynamictransaction card that is manufactured using conductive plastic jumpersthat will dissolve when in contact with a solvent used to tamper withthe dynamic transaction card. A dynamic transaction card may include anembedded microprocessor chip, or integrated circuit (IC), includingvarious components to provide card capabilities, such as transactioncapabilities, security capabilities, and reprogramming capabilities.These components may be understood to refer to computer executablesoftware, firmware, hardware, and/or various combinations thereof. Adynamic transaction card may include a number of layers including atransparent overlay and backing that encapsulate a number of components,both hardware and software, such as, for example, potting, Java Applets,Java Applet integration, an EMV chip, a sensor, a display, displaydriver, firmware, a bootloader, a microcontroller an antenna, an energystorage component, power management, a flexible PCB, and a chassis.

Internal components of a dynamic transaction card may be manufacturedusing a synthetic or semi-synthetic organic material, such as, forexample, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, high-densitypolyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, low-densitypolyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, high impact polystyrene,polyamides, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyethylene/acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene polycarbonate, and/or polycarbonate/acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene. These materials may be conductive to providefunctionality to a dynamic transaction card, such as a connectionbetween an integrated circuit and other card components such that whenthe materials dissolve, the connections are broken and the dynamictransaction card may be inactive due to the loss of various connections.

A dynamic transaction card that includes these conductive, plasticjumpers connecting, for example, an integrated circuit to a powersupply, may be manufactured using reaction injection molding (RIM). Inthis manner, thermosetting polymers (e.g., plastics) are curedirreversibly. As used herein, irreversible curing means that oncehardened, the resin cannot be reheated, melted, and reshaped. Using aRIM process, the various polymer components used to form the conductive,plastic jumpers in a dynamic transaction card may be combined andinjected into a molding. Reinforcing agents may be added to the mixture,such as various fibers or mica. The materials mixed in the molding maythen be cured while remaining in the molding.

Once cured, the molded jumpers may then be incorporated into a dynamictransaction card as connectors between, for example, an integratedcircuit and a power supply or power management. Should the card betampered with using, for example, a solvent to dissolve the plasticouter layers of the dynamic transaction card, the jumpers will alsodissolve thereby preventing reverse engineering of or tampering with thedynamic transaction card.

It is further noted that the systems and methods described herein may betangibly embodied in one of more physical media, such as, but notlimited to, a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), afloppy disk, a hard drive, read only memory (ROM), random access memory(RAM), as well as other physical media capable of storing software, orcombinations thereof. Moreover, the figures illustrate variouscomponents (e.g., servers, computers, processors, etc.) separately. Thefunctions described as being performed at various components may beperformed at other components, and the various components bay becombined or separated. Other modifications also may be made.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its spirit and scope, as may be apparent.Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of thedisclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, may be apparent fromthe foregoing representative descriptions. Such modifications andvariations are intended to fall within the scope of the appendedrepresentative claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only bythe terms of the appended representative claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such representative claims are entitled.It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intendedto be limiting.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It may be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It may be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent may be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one”or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articlesused to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, suchrecitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C”would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone,C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general sucha construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It may be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” may be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

The foregoing description, along with its associated embodiments, hasbeen presented for purposes of illustration only. It is not exhaustiveand does not limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Thoseskilled in the art may appreciate from the foregoing description thatmodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practicing the disclosed embodiments.For example, the steps described need not be performed in the samesequence discussed or with the same degree of separation. Likewisevarious steps may be omitted, repeated, or combined, as necessary, toachieve the same or similar objectives. Accordingly, the invention isnot limited to the above-described embodiments, but instead is definedby the appended claims in light of their full scope of equivalents.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with references to the accompanying drawings. It may, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto,and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing fromthe broader scope of the invention as set forth in the claims thatfollow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded asan illustrative.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A transaction card comprising: an outerlayer comprising a plastic material; two or more electrical components,including a microprocessor and an EMV chip; at least one connectorproviding an electrical connection between the microprocessor and EMVchip, wherein: the at least one connector is constructed from aconductive, dissolvable material being configured to be dissolved by asolvent effective for dissolving the outer layer; further whereindissolving of the at least one connector breaks the connection betweenthe microprocessor and EMV chip such that the transaction card isdeactivated.
 2. The dynamic transaction card of claim 1, wherein the twoor more electrical components comprise an integrated circuit, powersupply, power management component, and/or a microcontroller.
 3. Thetransaction card of claim 2, wherein a second connector of the at leastone connector connects the integrated circuit to the power supply or tothe power management component.
 4. The transaction card of claim 2,wherein a third connector of the at least one connector connects themicroprocessor or the microcontroller to the power supply, and/orwherein the third connector connects the microprocessor or themicrocontroller to the power management component.
 5. The transactioncard of claim 1, wherein the plastic material comprises polyethyleneterephthalate, polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polyvinylchloride, polyvinylidene chloride, low-density polyethylene,polypropylene, polystyrene, high impact polystyrene, polyamides,acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyethylene/acrylonitrile butadienestyrene polycarbonate, and/or polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadienestyrene.
 6. The transaction card of claim 1, wherein the plasticmaterial is configured to be irreversibly cured based on a mixed polymerinjection during manufacture.
 7. The transaction card of claim 6,wherein the at least one connector is manufactured using reactioninjection molding.
 8. The transaction card of claim 6, wherein the mixedpolymer includes added reinforcing agents.
 9. The transaction card ofclaim 8, wherein the reinforcing agents comprise fiber and/or mica. 10.The transaction card of claim 1, further comprising a backing layer,wherein the backing layer and the outer layer are molded together. 11.The transaction card of claim 10, wherein the backing layer comprises aplastic material.
 12. The transaction card of claim 1, wherein the atleast one connector is x-ray transparent.
 13. A method of manufacturinga transaction card: providing an outer layer comprising a plasticmaterial; providing two or more electrical components, including amicroprocessor and an EMV chip; providing an electrical connectionbetween the microprocessor and EMV chip by at least one connector,wherein: the at least one connector is constructed from a conductive,dissolvable material being configured to be dissolved by a solventeffective for dissolving the outer layer; further wherein dissolving ofthe at least one connector breaks the connection between themicroprocessor and EMV chip such that the transaction card isdeactivated.
 14. The method of manufacturing a transaction card of claim13, wherein the two or more electrical components comprise an integratedcircuit, power supply, power management component, and/or amicrocontroller.
 15. The method of manufacturing a transaction card ofclaim 14, wherein a second connector of the at least one connectorconnects the integrated circuit to the power supply or to the powermanagement component.
 16. The method of manufacturing a transaction cardof claim 14, wherein a third connector of the at least one connectorconnects the microprocessor or the microcontroller to the power supply,and/or wherein the third connector connects the microprocessor or themicrocontroller to the power management component.
 17. The method ofmanufacturing a transaction card of claim 13, wherein the plasticmaterial comprises polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene,high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride,low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, high impactpolystyrene, polyamides, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene,polyethylene/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polycarbonate, and/orpolycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.
 18. The method ofmanufacturing a transaction card of claim 13, wherein the plasticmaterial is configured to be irreversibly cured based on a mixed polymerinjection during manufacture.
 19. The method of manufacturing atransaction card of claim 18, wherein the at least one connector ismanufactured using reaction injection molding.
 20. The method ofmanufacturing a transaction card of claim 18, wherein the mixed polymerincludes added reinforcing agents.